Philosophical questions

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Cartoonist and illustrator Patrick LaMontagne gives that familiar old philosophical question an update with today’s cartoon.

Here, the happy couple is communing with nature while enjoying a summer vacation in any one of Canada’s thousands of parks and the husband poses a similarly founded query: ‘If we take a summer vacation, but don’t post any pictures online, did it really happen?’

Once again, Mr. LaMontagne deftly approaches his observation of today’s technology, with a respectful nod to philosopher George Berkeley, who originally posed the ‘if a tree falls in the forest’ question.

Mr. Berkeley suggested that everything physical one sees around oneself can be characterized as that person’s perception of that thing. Therefore, if there is no one around to ‘perceive’ the falling tree it, it might follow that it did not make a sound.